Norm Jones out as Avs radio voice – *but not gone from the company

I’m still following up on this, but it appears as if the Avalanche has decided not to bring back longtime radio man Norm Jones. It appears as if Marc Moser may do all the games this season by himself, but again I’m following up on this and will have definitive word later.

We were all under the impression Jones and Moser would both be back again, but something may have changed lately to prompt a new decision. Most likely, this was a financial cutback, but I’m waiting for Altitude CEO Matt Hutchings to phone me back and give the official word.

On the official release by Altitude today, however, Jones is not listed as being part of the radio broadcast team for 2009-10 – just Moser.

Norm is a good man and I hope he still has a job within the company, but as you know the Avs and Kroenke Sports have made quite a few budget cuts over the last year. A longtime public relations staffer with the Avs was let go earlier this summer (not Jean Martineau), and other personnel around the company as well. As I mentioned earlier this summer, too, there were heavy rumors going around the Avs that Altitude was thinking strongly of simulcasting their games on the radio – meaning Mike Haynes and Peter McNab would have their TV calls also serve as the radio broadcast (Dallas currently does it that way). But that idea was nixed.

Times are tough – even for a man with a net worth of a few billion dollars such as Stan Kroenke.

Also, reports around the hockey world are saying the two-month old infant child of Jose Theodore has died. What a bad day, what a horrible thing. Why does that stuff happen???????

*Update: Norm officially will not be part of the Avs broadcast team this season, in any way. But he may still do some work for Altitude with some local sporting stuff. Still unsure on that last part.

**Another update: OK, so now Altitude has strangely added to their previous press release, with a line about how Norm Jones will be a part-time radio “studio analyst and reporter.” That line was not in the original release. So, it appears that Norm still has some work with the team, which is great. But the gist of the story remains true – that Jones won’t be the play-by-play guy anymore and he won’t travel with the team.

I’m not even supposed to be working today, but decided to do something on this story. Should have stayed off. It hasn’t taken long for the usual confusion in communications from Altitude Sports and Entertainment to reign supreme.

(Adrian Dater is on Facebook and Twitter: his twitter name is, drumroll please….adater)

A few other media outlets confirming the death… Sad. R.I.P. lil guy. Prayers go out to Theo and his family.

Larry

A few other media outlets confirming the death… Sad. R.I.P. lil guy. Prayers go out to Theo and his family.

Peterman

For all the reasons to dislike Theodore – you never want something like this to happen. My heart goes out to him.

As for Norm, I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but I’m excited to see what Moser can do calling the play-by-play. He’s got great hockey knowledge and should be exciting. He’s certainly paid his dues – I remember when he was doing intermission stuff.

I hope he can handle the duties of two men – we shall see!

Peterman

For all the reasons to dislike Theodore – you never want something like this to happen. My heart goes out to him.

As for Norm, I’m sure he’s a great guy and all, but I’m excited to see what Moser can do calling the play-by-play. He’s got great hockey knowledge and should be exciting. He’s certainly paid his dues – I remember when he was doing intermission stuff.

I hope he can handle the duties of two men – we shall see!

Jared

That sucks about Jose’s kid.

Jared

That sucks about Jose’s kid.

Will

I thought the same thing when I saw “play-by-play” analyst Marc Moser.

And that really sucks for Theo. Thoughts and prayers.

Will

I thought the same thing when I saw “play-by-play” analyst Marc Moser.

And that really sucks for Theo. Thoughts and prayers.

Clyde

So sorry to hesr about Theo’s kid , no one should have to go through that , God Bless the Theodore family .

Clyde

So sorry to hesr about Theo’s kid , no one should have to go through that , God Bless the Theodore family .

Peter

That is sad for Theo’s kid.

As for the radio broadcast, they broadcast at such a low power in Denver no one could hear them. Especially at night. It was real bad.

Peter

That is sad for Theo’s kid.

As for the radio broadcast, they broadcast at such a low power in Denver no one could hear them. Especially at night. It was real bad.

rtl

So sad. Condolences to Theo.

On the Norm Jones front-ever since they moved to 1510, they’ve pretty much abandoned radio. 1510 can’t be heard anywhere during game time, so obviously ad revenue is likely in the toilet. Too bad they decided to keep Moshe, and get rid of Norm…shoulda been vice versa.

It’s gonna be a long season, true believers.

rtl

So sad. Condolences to Theo.

On the Norm Jones front-ever since they moved to 1510, they’ve pretty much abandoned radio. 1510 can’t be heard anywhere during game time, so obviously ad revenue is likely in the toilet. Too bad they decided to keep Moshe, and get rid of Norm…shoulda been vice versa.

It’s gonna be a long season, true believers.

Rockey

Sloppy job, AD. Check out the Altitude web site and it says that Norm Jones will be the studio analyst on radio. Sounds like KSEs cost-cutting will be to only send one radio announcer on the road.

Rockey

Sloppy job, AD. Check out the Altitude web site and it says that Norm Jones will be the studio analyst on radio. Sounds like KSEs cost-cutting will be to only send one radio announcer on the road.

I kind of feel bad for talking all that smack about Jose now. Regardless of how bad someone plays, you never wish for anything like this to happen.

Avaranche

I kind of feel bad for talking all that smack about Jose now. Regardless of how bad someone plays, you never wish for anything like this to happen.

Patrick

So sad about Jose’s kid. But to be honest, I am more sad about Norm Jones. To me, Norm Jones IS the voice of the hockey in Colorado. Many a time I was listening to the Rockies (remember before the Rockies played crappy baseball, they played crappy hockey) on 56 KLZ AM with Norm calling it. If KSE had to cut a radio voice, I wish it would have been Moser. Nothing personal against the guy, but to me, living in North Carolina, listening to Norm Jones calling a game was comforting to hear. What Vin Scully is to the Dodgers, Norm Jones is to Colorado hockey.

Patrick

So sad about Jose’s kid. But to be honest, I am more sad about Norm Jones. To me, Norm Jones IS the voice of the hockey in Colorado. Many a time I was listening to the Rockies (remember before the Rockies played crappy baseball, they played crappy hockey) on 56 KLZ AM with Norm calling it. If KSE had to cut a radio voice, I wish it would have been Moser. Nothing personal against the guy, but to me, living in North Carolina, listening to Norm Jones calling a game was comforting to hear. What Vin Scully is to the Dodgers, Norm Jones is to Colorado hockey.

Jeru1975

As a father to a 3 month old, my heart goes out to Jose and his family. Horrible thing to happen.

Good luck Norm, I liked your color but not your call. Glad to see you’ll land in the studio.

Jeru1975

As a father to a 3 month old, my heart goes out to Jose and his family. Horrible thing to happen.

Good luck Norm, I liked your color but not your call. Glad to see you’ll land in the studio.

Rachel

First of all my prayers, thoughts and condolences go out to Theo and his family. What a tragedy and although some people (although not myself) may have questioned him while he was here, I am confident nobody will anything but prayers for him now.
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As for Norm, this really doesn’t come as a surprise to me, the Avs organization is determined to go younger so why wouldn’t it affect broadcasts too? I agree with whoever said that the signal is so bad it’s painful to listen to games anyway.

Tim

Patrick, you are out of your mind

“So sad about Jose’s kid. But to be honest, I am more sad about Norm Jones.”

Honestly? Norm Jones lost a radio job, and will have plenty of chances to be back.

Jose’s child had 2 months of life, and Jose himself lost a child. The two aren’t even comparable…and the fact that you even tried, scares me a bit

Rachel

First of all my prayers, thoughts and condolences go out to Theo and his family. What a tragedy and although some people (although not myself) may have questioned him while he was here, I am confident nobody will anything but prayers for him now.
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As for Norm, this really doesn’t come as a surprise to me, the Avs organization is determined to go younger so why wouldn’t it affect broadcasts too? I agree with whoever said that the signal is so bad it’s painful to listen to games anyway.

Tim

Patrick, you are out of your mind

“So sad about Jose’s kid. But to be honest, I am more sad about Norm Jones.”

Honestly? Norm Jones lost a radio job, and will have plenty of chances to be back.

Jose’s child had 2 months of life, and Jose himself lost a child. The two aren’t even comparable…and the fact that you even tried, scares me a bit

Trisha

So sad about Jose Theodore’s child. May God give him the strength to endure.

Trisha

So sad about Jose Theodore’s child. May God give him the strength to endure.

Jeremy

Yet another sign that this franchise is turning into a second class gig. Not that anyone can hear the radio broadcasts anyway…

Jeremy

Yet another sign that this franchise is turning into a second class gig. Not that anyone can hear the radio broadcasts anyway…

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.